FLINT, MI – The newly elected Flint City Council includes a
convicted killer, a man who served probation for felonious assault and two
people who have gone through personal bankruptcies.

Wantwaz Davis, who beat incumbent Bernard Lawler by 71 votes to
win the Fifth Ward seat, served 19 years in prison
after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in 1991.

Wantwaz D. Davis

Davis said he didn't hide his murder conviction from voters and
openly talked about the conviction with residents, but it never was publicly
reported. The Journal learned of the conviction Wednesday and Davis
confirmed it when asked.

"The council people are elected. They're going to get sworn in on
Monday. Nothing you write about it is going to change it now," Council
President Scott Kincaid said. "It's not something that was hidden or should be
a surprise to constituents in the Fifth Ward."

Davis was 17 years old in August 1991 when Kenneth S. Morris, 27,
was killed at his home on Grace Street. Morris died after being shot three
times -- once each in the hip, abdomen and mouth, according to The Flint
Journal archives.

"He
went and reached in his pocket, so I reached in my pocket and I shot him,"
Davis said Wednesday, Nov. 6. "When I found out he later died, I turned myself
in. I never intended to shoot Mr. Morris. To this day, I am very remorseful."

Also on the nine-member council are:

• First Ward councilman-elect Eric Mays pleaded guilty to
felonious assault in 1987 and served a year of probation. Mays said the man had
been threatening his life before Mays threatened him with a gun.

• Second ward Councilwoman Jackie Poplar filed for
Chapter 13 bankruptcy in federal bankruptcy court in 2004, a year before first
being elected to City Council. She repaid nearly $21,000 to her creditors over
six years.

Monica Galloway

• Newly elected Seventh Ward councilwoman Monica Galloway and her
husband filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1999, according to federal court
records.

The newly elected council comes as the city looks to regain local
control after one year, 11 months under a state takeover.

Gov. Rick Snyder recently told The Flint Journal that he expected
Flint to transition away from an emergency manager in a matter of months, which
could restore power to locally elected officials including the mayor and city
council.

"My reaction is this is not good for Flint," said Flint native and
political analyst Bill Ballenger, who said in his 50 years in politics he's
never heard of two convicted felons elected to the same council. "This is
probably still another black eye for the city of Flint."

Davis was paroled in 2010, after 19 years in prison.

"I want the (Morris) family to know that I am extremely apologetic
for what I did to their family member," Davis said, adding that he does not shy
away from his past, and that it will help him on council. "The elders and youth
are looking for someone who actually understands what they're going through and
who has rebounded and made something of themselves."

Eric Mays

Mays defended his actions in his felonious assault conviction: "I
defended myself," Mays said of the incident that occurred while Mays was home
in Flint for the summer after being accepted into law school. "That destroyed
my law career."

Poplar, an incumbent who won more than 65 percent of the vote
over, said her debt followed the death of her mother.

Jackie Poplar

"I had to spend all I had to bury her," Poplar said. "If I had to
do it again, I would."

Galloway could not be reached for comment. She beat Alex Harris by
123 votes in the Seventh Ward to win the seat being vacated by Dale
Weighill.

The
new council members will have little power and are paid $7,000 a year, a third of their regular pay because Flint is run by state-appointed Emergency
Manager Darnell Earley. Under Public Act 436, the state's emergency manager
law, city council can only do what Earley allows it to do.

"I intend to work with whoever is sworn in on Monday," Earley said.

There is nothing illegal about convicted felons running for office
or voting, according to Fred Woodhams, spokesman for the Michigan Department of
State.

In 2010, Woodhams said the state Constitution was amended to ban
felons convicted of fraud or similar charges from any elected office.

"As far as the state law, the amendment only talks about fraud,
deceit and dishonesty – felonies about that," Woodhams said.

Davis and Mays are not the first convicted felons to win election
in Flint.

Former Mayor Don Williamson served three years in prison in the
early 1960s on two felony convictions involving business scams. Williamson
resigned in 2009 on the verge of a recall election.

Ballenger said the council members' records could make the state
less likely to end the takeover.

"It's certainly not anything that's going to make them want to
turn it over to local control," Ballenger said.